To get started, contact the iTunes U support staff to
request an account. We
will follow up with you, usually within two business days, to discuss your
need and possibly set up a meeting with you and any other people in your
area who will be posting to your iTunes U area. We will work with you to
determine the appropriate location for your content and help you decide
how you want to organize your area. For example, a college may want to
divide its content into sections by department or topic, while a student
group may prefer to organize by event. Organizational structure for content
is very important to consider at the beginning because it's not easy to
change after content has been uploaded.

If your group is part of a larger group, such as a
department within a college, we may also contact a representative for the
larger group to make sure that your content is placed appropriately within
the group's section. If the larger group already has a section on iTunes
U, then you may be able to gain access by working directly with your in-house
iTunes U administrator. If not, we'll work with your IT support team and/or
your dean's office to make sure that you'll get the support you need once
you get started.

Following our initial conversation or meeting, we will
create a sandbox account for your group, with access given to each person
who
will be uploading content to iTunes U. The sandbox account is a private testing
area where you can test your graphics and content prior to uploading files
to your public area. You can also begin practicing in your sandbox account
immediately, even if you are still deciding how to organize your public
area.

When you have determined how to organize your initial
content, we will create your public area, including your initial section
dividers and content containers for you. We will also assign user access
rights to
edit your area based on the needs of the people working on the site. Access
rights are heirarchical, so you can designate certain users as administrators
over the entire area, while other users can be limited to specific content
containers only.

Step Two: Designing Your Look

To customize your iTunes U area, you will need a large
rectangular graphic (600x300 pixels) for your welcome page, a smaller square
version of this graphic (300x300 pixels) for your section thumbnail, and one
or more square graphics (300x300 pixels) for your course page icons. You
may also choose
to create small,
square icon graphics (128x128 pixels) for your downloadable content. We
can provide basic template
graphics for you, or you can design your own. For more information, please
see the following Apple documents:

You will also need to brand your
podcast as property of UK and of your department or group by adding opening
and closing credits. If you have only audio material, you can simply record
someone introducing the podcast. If you have a visual component, such as
slides or video, you can add credits using a podcast or video editing application,
or you can create simple
title screens in
PowerPoint or Photoshop,
save them as jpgs, and then add them to the beginning
and end of your video(s). Credits should include information
about the name of the podcast series, the group that is producing it, the
title of the episode or event, and the names of any speakers or hosts.
You should also mention the university or show a UK logo and state that
the work is copyrighted. It's also a good idea to mention that more content
is available at itunes.uky.edu in your closing credits.

Depending on the source, podcast content can be recorded
with a
digital audio device or video camera and imported onto a computer later,
or can be created/recorded
on a computer from the beginning. Content can be recorded and/or edited
with either a Mac or a PC and files can be up to 1 GB in size.
We recommend keeping podcasts to an hour or less in length, when possible.
To produce professional content, make sure the sound
is clear and easy to understand, without static, dramatic changes in
volume, or too much background noise. Record videos in good lighting
so details are easy to see. Frame the subject in the center of the video
and avoid rapid zooming or other camera movements that may disorient
viewers.

Step Four: Post-Production and Uploading

After you have recorded your content and prepared
your opening and closing credits and graphics, it's time to put it all
together.
Import your content into one of the applications listed above, add your opening
and closing credits and a watermark if desired, then export your podcast in one
of the supported formats. Save your file with a short descriptive name, avoiding
spaces or special characters.

When you have the exported file, it's time to add metadata,
which can be done by dropping the podcast or PDF file into your local iTunes
library, highlighting it, and selecting File->Get Info from the menubar.
You can also apply a custom file icon graphic at this point. For more information
about the uses of metadata, read the section on page 5 of Apple's Creating
Content for iPod and iTunes document or see Part I of our wiki document
Uploading to iTunes U.

When the podcast is edited, branded, exported, and tagged
with metadata, you are ready to customize your course shell and upload your
files. For instructions, see Parts II and III of our wiki document
Uploading to iTunes U.

Step Five: Review and Publish

Once you have your site customized and your initial content
uploaded, the iTunes U administrators will review your site and give you feedback. You
may also demo the site for others in
your group and make any changes that you like privately.
When all agree that your site is ready to go, we will make it visible to the
public. After this point, you may continue to upload content and create new
sections or containers as you like. We will be here to support you, but once
you're live, you do not need approval from us to post content. We may, however,
periodically review your site and provide you with additional feedback.